Thanks for this video. I finally started checking my element. Just wanted to throw this out there for anyone else who is having an issue with their electric smoker tripping GFCI/breaker. I had just taken the cover off the back of my smoker to check the wires connecting to the element. One side had debris inside the connection and the terminal was slightly loose. Cleaned it out and squeezed the terminal together a bit for a snug fit, and my issue was resolved. Hopefully this helps anyone else having this issue.
I Pulled my heating element today and that was the problem. I plugged up the smoker with the heating element out of the smoker and it did not pop the circuit breaker. Thx for explaining how to use the meter for this check. Very Helpful!!!
Thank you for the video. My smoker won’t heat and I need to check my element. I was just going to check the continuity and didn’t think about it maybe being grounded out.
Mike, You may be right. However in engineering school, my professors always told me it actually meant out of limits. Outside the limits of the meters capabilities in display or calculation. One of these professors actually helped design some multimeters for klein. So maybe different brands use it differently, or maybe people chose what makes sense to them for the letters and it stuck. If you have good sources I'm always open to learning or correcting my ignorance. Thanks for the comment.
You may be right. However in engineering school, my professors always told me it actually meant out of limits. Outside the limits of the meters capabilities in display or calculation. One of these professors actually helped design some multimeters for klein. So maybe different brands use it differently, or maybe people chose what makes sense to them for the letters and it stuck. I had several links previously with another commenter who backed this up. Buts it's been many years and it looks like fluke took those manuals down. If you have every used an old meter that did not automatically adjust it's scale, you would see this if it was in the wrong scale set. Even though the meter was not overloaded and the circuit was not an open loop. outside of limits however still holds then. But I know several other manufacturers have adopted overload for some reason. If you have good sources I'm always open to learning or correcting my ignorance. Thanks for the comment.
After reading comments, watching the video, not being an electrician, but wanting to learn how to do things like this, what do you set the multimeter on to get readings? Some comments here say dont check continuity, check this or that, got a little side tracked. Thanks in advance if you answer. Otherwise vid is good. Thx.
Sorry for the late reply, My email wasn't getting the notifications and I haven't been on in a while. Anyway, the multimeter needs to be set to the continuity setting to check this.
I know this comment is quite past the post date of the video, but I'm hoping you see it. I have a Big Chief electric smoker that is tripping a GFCI outlet in my garage. It has a 450 watt heating element. I just did the tests you show here and the readings look perfect (32 ohms between the two leads) and 1 when I touch one lead and the other to the metal casing on the element. The plug that the element goes to has three connectors, but the heating element only has two leads to connect out on. I am confused what would trip a breaker if the element is good. Any ideas are very much appreciated.
Garden Grower Sir, Ahah… I too have landed here. I too brought home a shiny Big Chief, but sad day, all my GFI outlets are tripping due to plugging in Big Chief. So, did you order new cord, or new heating element? What was your remedy? Thanks for any guidance!
Sorry for the late reply, I haven't created content in a while. The heating element may be fine, you may have a grounded wire in your housing somewhere. You will have to chase all the wires. I am unfamiliar with that particular unit. Also, When touching the lead to the casing it should show an OL, but I don't know what multimeter you may be using.
Thank you for this info. my problem its that my masterbuild electric smoker stop working and can't get it to work check the element just like you it looks new we only have used like 4 times replace the control and nothing I m temp ted to open up the back and see what I can find. Any suggestion's??
If your 30" smoker is like mine, Check to see that your thermocouple is not open. It looks like s silver button with two wires connected to it. Its behind the back cover. Easy to part find and replace.
I found the thermocouple looks like a dime or a button that you talk about to check that and remove the screws. Do I have to drill out the rabbit from the outside back? Or can you check it from inside the smoker?
@@armandodavila2246 No drilling required on mine, Iti accessible by removing the back inspection plate. 4 screws.. Once you do ,Check the continuity between the two terminals of the Thermocouple. If it has continuity its most likely ok. If its open, it acts like a switch disabling the circuit and heater.
I have a Masterbuilt 30" brand new and it will not hold temperature. Set at 275 it shuts off and goes to 260 and starts back to 275 once there it shuts off and goes to 260 and starts all over again. Is this normal. It's not cooking the meat in my three attempts, I have never had a smoker before. Thanking you in advance . It has a digital control.
Sorry I didn't get notification of this comment, and no this is not normal. I got rid of my masterbuilt a while back for a pellet smoker, but If I remember correctly, these units should go up to 350 or so. Have you tried masterbuilt support?
Usually it's attached to whatever power supply it's coming from or a grounded part of the appliance body. If you watch my video on putting it back in you can see how its mounted and where the wires go.
I just built my cerakote oven and the element did not get hot. I was thinking it was a ground problem , then I found your video it showed me the element gets a ground wire to it, had no ideal since the element I bought did not have any info, I had a heck of a time figuring out the oven thermostat switch I bought for it , it had 6 contacts, I was curious to know where your ground ran to, but in my case it will go up to my terminal block. Thanks
In My elements Case it has the hot and neutral on the leads and a ground wire for Fault issues like this element was having. The ground went from the hole in the plate of the element to the metal housing. The ground really shouldn't be doing anything unless there is a problem. Are you posting a video on the oven? I'd be interested to see it.
My element is 220 and I ran the two 120 leads down to the element thinking that was good because my incoming 220 to the terminal block was grounded / from the block it then goes to the element, I have yet to fix it, I bought new wire so I could connect the ground to the element probably finish it this weekend. I'll do a short video on the oven when I finish the other shop work I am trying to finish, I work with air rifles , I made the oven so I can cerakote parts if I want to. guess if you subscribe you'll get a notification when the video comes out / you can always unsubscribe later lol I am a master plumber by day the airgun sport is what I enjoy
That's cool. I am an industrial/mechanical engineer by day and I'm always fixing things so I started making videos of it. I have a long video of an industrial compressor I fixed that I'm editing currently. I will be videoing an industrial air dryer fix this next week so I've just been adding content as I can. Its not interesting to everyone but I'm hoping someone gets use out of it. The learning curve is a lot easier after watching videos on it.
It's been a while since I owned this, but last I checked you should be able to use any appliance cord and attache leads to it if you take the back off.
Late response sorry, but should prob look at my assembly video on the smoker. Generally speaking I would just put a new plug end on it and leave the cord shorter.
I wasn't checking loads. I was checking for a ground fault. I don't care about phase change in a smoker/oven. To check amperage, the heating element would have to be powered.That generally requires special equipment if it's ground is bad. It also can be dangerous. This is safe and allows you to do preliminary tests while the element is out of the smoker. Also, Heating elements are simple. V=IR and W=VA applies. The heating element in this case had a known Resistance and Voltage. If you know what the resistance is supposed to be, which I mentioned in the video when I tested the new one, you also know what current draw you can expect. You can also tell by the ETL/CEC markings what you should expect with wattage, and you can get your answer there as well. I'm aware heating elements like all wiring have losses, but they aren't enough that you can't determine power draw with relative accuracy using these formulas.
Well essentially, that's all you do in the video. You just do it in more places than normally shown in a youtube video. As I said in the video, just testing the leads would not have worked in this case. It would show the element is good. Even though it clearly is not because it is shorted to the casing. Thanks for the comment!
Наука
Thanks for this video. I finally started checking my element. Just wanted to throw this out there for anyone else who is having an issue with their electric smoker tripping GFCI/breaker. I had just taken the cover off the back of my smoker to check the wires connecting to the element. One side had debris inside the connection and the terminal was slightly loose. Cleaned it out and squeezed the terminal together a bit for a snug fit, and my issue was resolved. Hopefully this helps anyone else having this issue.
Tested mine and old one showed same exact resistance as new one. Replaced it and now its working great
I Pulled my heating element today and that was the problem. I plugged up the smoker with the heating element out of the smoker and it did not pop the circuit breaker. Thx for explaining how to use the meter for this check. Very Helpful!!!
It was EXACTLY my problem!!! Thanks!
Thank you for the video. My smoker won’t heat and I need to check my element. I was just going to check the continuity and didn’t think about it maybe being grounded out.
This is exactly what i needed to know. Thanks!
Mine was just like that. Thanks for you insight.
Thank you ^^
I solved the problem in Korea
Very helpful, thanks! FYI, the “OL” on your multimeter stands for “open loop” not out of limits.
Mike,
You may be right. However in engineering school, my professors always told me it actually meant out of limits. Outside the limits of the meters capabilities in display or calculation. One of these professors actually helped design some multimeters for klein. So maybe different brands use it differently, or maybe people chose what makes sense to them for the letters and it stuck. If you have good sources I'm always open to learning or correcting my ignorance. Thanks for the comment.
Thank you! I'm going to try this.
Thanks for a quick and to the point video. 👍👍
Glad it was helpful!
OL stands for open link. Not "out of limits " or as some calls it over load...
You may be right. However in engineering school, my professors always told me it actually meant out of limits. Outside the limits of the meters capabilities in display or calculation. One of these professors actually helped design some multimeters for klein. So maybe different brands use it differently, or maybe people chose what makes sense to them for the letters and it stuck. I had several links previously with another commenter who backed this up. Buts it's been many years and it looks like fluke took those manuals down. If you have every used an old meter that did not automatically adjust it's scale, you would see this if it was in the wrong scale set. Even though the meter was not overloaded and the circuit was not an open loop. outside of limits however still holds then. But I know several other manufacturers have adopted overload for some reason. If you have good sources I'm always open to learning or correcting my ignorance. Thanks for the comment.
After reading comments, watching the video, not being an electrician, but wanting to learn how to do things like this, what do you set the multimeter on to get readings? Some comments here say dont check continuity, check this or that, got a little side tracked.
Thanks in advance if you answer. Otherwise vid is good. Thx.
Sorry for the late reply, My email wasn't getting the notifications and I haven't been on in a while. Anyway, the multimeter needs to be set to the continuity setting to check this.
I know this comment is quite past the post date of the video, but I'm hoping you see it. I have a Big Chief electric smoker that is tripping a GFCI outlet in my garage. It has a 450 watt heating element. I just did the tests you show here and the readings look perfect (32 ohms between the two leads) and 1 when I touch one lead and the other to the metal casing on the element. The plug that the element goes to has three connectors, but the heating element only has two leads to connect out on. I am confused what would trip a breaker if the element is good. Any ideas are very much appreciated.
Garden Grower Sir,
Ahah… I too have landed here. I too brought home a shiny Big Chief, but sad day, all my GFI outlets are tripping due to plugging in Big Chief.
So, did you order new cord, or new heating element? What was your remedy?
Thanks for any guidance!
Sorry for the late reply, I haven't created content in a while. The heating element may be fine, you may have a grounded wire in your housing somewhere. You will have to chase all the wires. I am unfamiliar with that particular unit. Also, When touching the lead to the casing it should show an OL, but I don't know what multimeter you may be using.
Good info
that really helpful
Thank you for this info.
my problem its that my masterbuild electric smoker stop working and can't get it to work check the element just like you it looks new we only have used like 4 times replace the control and nothing
I m temp ted to open up the back and see what I can find. Any suggestion's??
If it won't power on, the breaker is not popping, and the ground is not faulting, sounds like a bad wire or control issue. good luck.
If your 30" smoker is like mine, Check to see that your thermocouple is not open. It looks like s silver button with two wires connected to it. Its behind the back cover. Easy to part find and replace.
I found the thermocouple looks like a dime or a button that you talk about to check that and remove the screws. Do I have to drill out the rabbit from the outside back? Or can you check it from inside the smoker?
@@armandodavila2246 No drilling required on mine, Iti accessible by removing the back inspection plate. 4 screws.. Once you do ,Check the continuity between the two terminals of the Thermocouple. If it has continuity its most likely ok. If its open, it acts like a switch disabling the circuit and heater.
I have a Masterbuilt 30" brand new and it will not hold temperature. Set at 275 it shuts off and goes to 260 and starts back to 275 once there it shuts off and goes to 260 and starts all over again. Is this normal. It's not cooking the meat in my three attempts, I have never had a smoker before. Thanking you in advance . It has a digital control.
Sorry I didn't get notification of this comment, and no this is not normal. I got rid of my masterbuilt a while back for a pellet smoker, but If I remember correctly, these units should go up to 350 or so. Have you tried masterbuilt support?
Hi.
the ground wire for the burner you mentioned after its connected to the burner where does it get attached too on the other end
Thanks
Usually it's attached to whatever power supply it's coming from or a grounded part of the appliance body. If you watch my video on putting it back in you can see how its mounted and where the wires go.
I just built my cerakote oven and the element did not get hot. I was thinking it was a ground problem , then I found your video it showed me the element gets a ground wire to it, had no ideal since the element I bought did not have any info, I had a heck of a time figuring out the oven thermostat switch I bought for it , it had 6 contacts, I was curious to know where your ground ran to, but in my case it will go up to my terminal block.
Thanks
In My elements Case it has the hot and neutral on the leads and a ground wire for Fault issues like this element was having. The ground went from the hole in the plate of the element to the metal housing. The ground really shouldn't be doing anything unless there is a problem. Are you posting a video on the oven? I'd be interested to see it.
My element is 220 and I ran the two 120 leads down to the element thinking that was good because my incoming 220 to the terminal block was grounded / from the block it then goes to the element, I have yet to fix it, I bought new wire so I could connect the ground to the element probably finish it this weekend. I'll do a short video on the oven when I finish the other shop work I am trying to finish,
I work with air rifles , I made the oven so I can cerakote parts if I want to.
guess if you subscribe you'll get a notification when the video comes out / you can always unsubscribe later lol
I am a master plumber by day the airgun sport is what I enjoy
That's cool. I am an industrial/mechanical engineer by day and I'm always fixing things so I started making videos of it. I have a long video of an industrial compressor I fixed that I'm editing currently. I will be videoing an industrial air dryer fix this next week so I've just been adding content as I can. Its not interesting to everyone but I'm hoping someone gets use out of it. The learning curve is a lot easier after watching videos on it.
Can you splice the cord or what cord do I get-cant find on masterbuilt
It's been a while since I owned this, but last I checked you should be able to use any appliance cord and attache leads to it if you take the back off.
How do you change electric cord for smoker-ran over with mower
Late response sorry, but should prob look at my assembly video on the smoker. Generally speaking I would just put a new plug end on it and leave the cord shorter.
What setting is the muti tester on?
Resistance. Or the Omega symbol. If its not auto ranging you may have to find the correct range but most meters now are.
@@everydaydave270 I'm surprised you commented back so thank you. I got it fixed and thanks for doing the video. Two thumbs 👍👍
Test resistive loads you need to check amps...... not continuity. If its not pulling amps its trash
I wasn't checking loads. I was checking for a ground fault. I don't care about phase change in a smoker/oven. To check amperage, the heating element would have to be powered.That generally requires special equipment if it's ground is bad. It also can be dangerous. This is safe and allows you to do preliminary tests while the element is out of the smoker. Also, Heating elements are simple. V=IR and W=VA applies. The heating element in this case had a known Resistance and Voltage. If you know what the resistance is supposed to be, which I mentioned in the video when I tested the new one, you also know what current draw you can expect. You can also tell by the ETL/CEC markings what you should expect with wattage, and you can get your answer there as well. I'm aware heating elements like all wiring have losses, but they aren't enough that you can't determine power draw with relative accuracy using these formulas.
Just test the resistance
Well essentially, that's all you do in the video. You just do it in more places than normally shown in a youtube video. As I said in the video, just testing the leads would not have worked in this case. It would show the element is good. Even though it clearly is not because it is shorted to the casing. Thanks for the comment!
ok,learn a lot
You didn't hear a beep from your multimeter right?